Posted on 12/17/2010 9:36:39 AM PST by Zakeet
What causes of autism? Researchers have blamed vaccines, hereditary factors, and certain heavy metals. And now they're adding another suspect to the list:
Air pollution.
That's right. A new study shows that children in families who live near freeways are twice as likely to have autism as kids who live off the beaten path.
Researchers in Los Angeles looked at 304 children with autism and 259 normally developing children and found that those whose moms were living within 1,000 feet of a freeway when they gave birth had a increased risk for autism.
The study was published online in the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives" on Dec. 16.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I told you Freepers that we needed to ban the automobile ... but did you listen ... oh, no ... and now look what you've done!
They’re desperate to find something to replace the global warming hoax.
Autism is the new ADHD. Your child has a hard time learning a subject, is a little ecentric, has a hard time making friends? He must be autistic.
To bad so many researchers never heard of the terms, “statistical anomaly” or “random cluster” or even “sufficient sample”.
and
those whose moms were living within 1,000 feet of a freeway when they gave birth
... are not necessarily the same. If there is actually a correlation between "domiciled near a freeway when child was born" and "autism," it would be interesting to know if some socio-economic factor (such as unmarried mothers or prenatal drug use) also correlates.
And finally, haven't these researchers read about what air pollution was like in the days before electricity and natural gas replaced wood, coal, and oil for heat and light? Why weren't there bazillions of autistic children then?
Proximity to the interstate could mean air pollution, noise pollution, or anything related to a whole slew of socioeconomic factors involved in someone being stuck next to a freeway.
I don’t suppose they actually took wind into account (freeway upwind or downwind?) or actually took air samples?
Exactly. Any child who is a little difficult or different in any way must have a “disorder,” because otherwise they’d be perfect little automatons, just like their parents were as children. Oh, wait a minute ...
Lead paint......Oh, wait!
Bull Obama.
Extremely smelly Bull Obama.
Extremely slimy Bull Obama.
I thought fetal cells in the vaccines were to blame.
Too bad more researchers don’t understand “correlation is not causation.”
I think because the term "autism" has become such a broad diagnosis, I suspect that they'll never find a singular cause, if for no other reason than many illness/defects are termed "autism", when they're really something else.
Generally though, I'm incredibly skeptical of these kinds of studies that attempt to create cause/effect linkage to something as abstract as "air pollution".
Air pollution? Really? That’s like saying social class can cause Autism.
But autism has gone up in the last 30 years, while air pollution has declined dramatically. Most places in the 60s were as polluted as the few places they mentioned today.
"Ooooooo...suing the air....oooooo, suing the air.....ooooo, suing the air.."
The reason autism has 'gone up' in the last 10 years or so, is because of the ways it is diagnosed. There is now an 'Autism Spectrum' that was never widely used, so now autism is diagnosed on the scale from just barely communicating, all the way to simply being less socially adept. So geeks and nerds, and folks who might have trouble getting along with others in groups, are now diagnosed as being autistic.
Frankly, The numbers of kids with autism has grown because of the Federal money available for 'Special Needs' in schools. The more kids who can be put on the books of those programs, the more Federal money those schools can get.
Did they factor out medicines such as Retalin’s use by parents?
How coincidentally timed this news release about this study is — on the very day that California announced Cap & Trade.
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